Nirvana, what does purchases made "after the fact" mean? If you made the purchases and they weren't taxed then they're subject to use tax. If you think you managed to dodge a large tax bill, you shouldn't be talking about it so publicly. It's one thing if you corrected a gross accounting error, but if you got away with one, they can still come back to get you later.
My view is going to be really unpopular here because many people here make decent income selling online and some need every advantage they can get to stay afloat. I have to deal with the brick and mortar side of the world all the time and those people are getting royally screwed and because they get screwed, I get screwed since they're my clients. There are also a lot of online retailers who have been levying the proper sales tax all along. They're getting screwed too. I'm sure Brian at EliteKeyboards isn't too upset today. I bought two keyboards from the guy and both times he charged me the proper sales tax for my purchase. The world just got a little bit fairer for him, for me, and for many of my clients.
This isn't a rant. I think people need to see the other side and I'm actually sympathetic to your argument as to why this new law is stupid, but I just can't accept it as a good enough reason to keep looking the other way. I can easily see how it could backfire and I'm fearful of that. At the same time, I see no end to the erosion of what was a very dependable and necessary tax basis for local municipalities and a way of small business for a lot of people. While this could end up pushing sales elsewhere, the people who are evading their "use taxes" weren't going to be volunteering up that money anyway.
Making an attempt to level the playing field is risky, but totally ignoring that there's a problem isn't exactly a good solution. If this even partially works, there will be plenty of other states that will be lining up to close this loophole too. California isn't the only state that's hurting. We just make the headlines in a bigger way.
Also, "Use Tax" isn't just a California phenomenon. Every state except for Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon ask for "use taxes". Most of them are just more lax about enforcing it. I'd rather see a federal mandate to ensure that every state enforces their use tax so that people can't just go buy from a seller who lives somewhere that makes it easier for their residents to cheat on their taxes.
It's not a pretty situation. The rules were not fair to a lot of people as they were and now they're not fair to people like you either. This does indeed have the potential to end up being a lose-lose scenario, but I'm still optimistic that something good will eventually come of it.
